He left home reluctantly that morning; he had a three-month-old daughter and wanted every hour with her. A national collegiate judo champion and a black belt. He telephoned his wife and described the men calmly, then told her the passengers and crew were making a plan to rush them. At the end of the call he told her he loved her and needed her to be happy.

Killed aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which came down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on the morning of 11 September 2001. The aircraft had left Newark forty-two minutes late, which is the only reason those aboard learned by telephone what had already happened in New York before theirs was taken. They had about thirty minutes. They voted, and they went forward at the cockpit door. The aircraft never reached what it was aimed at.